SAN DIEGO - NOVEMBER 15, 2024

GOVX and Sports San Diego Announce Return of the Hometown Heroes Initiative at the DIRECTV Holiday Bowl

“We are so grateful to GOVX for their partnership of Sports San Diego's Hometown Heroes program. We can't wait to join arms with GOVX and welcome our servicemembers to the DIRECTV Holiday Bowl next month.”

- Mark Neville, Sports San Diego's CEO

GOVX and Sports San Diego announced the extension of their Official Partnership, including the return of the annual Hometown Heroes program at the DIRECTV Holiday Bowl.


GOVX, the online shopping platform exclusively for current and former U.S. military service members, first responders, emergency medical professionals, and other government personnel, will be featured as the title sponsor of the GOVX Pregame Show at the DIRECTV Holiday Bowl, which includes the national anthem, a Navy Parachute Team performance, American flag unfurling, and Hometown Heroes military tribute.


Additionally, the Hometown Heroes initiative will provide tickets and meal vouchers for 250 San Diego-based active-duty military servicemembers for the DIRECTV Holiday Bowl.


"We are so grateful to GOVX for their partnership of Sports San Diego's Hometown Heroes program," said Mark Neville, Sports San Diego's CEO. "We can't wait to join arms with GOVX and welcome our servicemembers to the DIRECTV Holiday Bowl next month."

On behalf of an exclusive community of over 9.5M members, GOVX will also act as the Official Discount Provider for the DIRECTV Holiday Bowl, providing access to a limited number of tickets at exclusive savings to qualified members.

“San Diego has a long history of supporting premiere live sports and those who serve, which makes our city the ideal setting for the DIRECTV Holiday Bowl," said Alan Cole, GOVX CEO. "With the return of the Hometown Heroes initiative, we're proud that GOVX can help lead the way in recognizing our heroes both here in our hometown and on a national stage."


The partnership also extends to the gameday Port of San Diego Holiday Bowl Parade presented by Kaiser Permanente, where GOVX will serve as a Division Sponsor in alignment with parade entries from the San Diego military community.



About GovX

GOVX is dedicated to serving those who serve our country and communities – military service members, first responders, law enforcement officers, emergency medical professionals, educators, and other government service personnel. With a customizable suite of solutions, GOVX provides leading brands who share in our mission with a unique opportunity to support this deserving audience.


Through our flagship ecommerce site, GOVX.com, brands can authentically reach a growing community of 9.5M+ members with their own storefront. More than 1K trusted brands currently have a storefront on GOVX.com, offering unbeatable deals to those who serve. With our verification app, GOVX ID, brands can easily enable service member discounts within the checkout flow of their own sites. More than 3K brands currently utilize our GOVX ID technology to honor service members. By leveraging GOVX marketing services solutions, brands can effectively amplify their products or services within our engaged and exclusive community and reinforce their support for Americans who make a difference. In addition to providing unmatched value to those who serve, GOVX also donates a portion of every order to nonprofits who serve the military and first responder community. To-date we have donated more than $1.5M through our GOVX Gives Back initiative. For more information, visit https://www.govx.com.


ABOUT SPORTS SAN DIEGO

Recognizing that San Diego is a premier tourist destination, the mission of Sports San Diego, a nonprofit 501c3 organization, is to generate tourism, visibility, and economic impact for the San Diego region by producing the DIRECTV Holiday Bowl, Rady Children's Invitational, California State Games and recruiting outstanding sports events and experiences to San Diego. Since 1978, the association has generated more than $1 billion in economic benefit for the San Diego region. To learn more, visit https://sportssandiego.org/.



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CHRIS BOHNERT - CPO

Chris joined GOVX in 2015, bringing more than 15 years of product, marketing and general management experience in the consumer internet space. As head of Product at GOVX, Chris leads product management, design and business intelligence for the entire product portfolio.


Chris began his career at Active Network in 2002 and helped grow the company from start-up to a successful IPO in 2011. During his time at Active Network, Chris managed several teams and product-lines, including the flagship media property, Active.com and the eCommerce division.


In 2012, Chris joined Takelessons, an online education marketplace matching students with qualified teachers. As VP of Product and Technology, he led a cross-functional team, including engineering, product management and design.


Chris earned a BA from the University of Arizona and an MBA from San Diego State University.

ADAM HOMZE - VP ENGINEERING

Adam joined GOVX in 2014 as the Vice President of Software Development and is responsible for leading the software development group, how our applications are built, and scaling the GOVX tech stack.


Since 2005, Adam has actively participated in the growth phase of several startups; holding multiple technical and leadership positions. Over that time, he has developed a wide range of skills to tackle the challenges inherent in building technology companies.


Adam earned a B.S. in Computer Science from the University of California, San Diego.

AARON PELANDER - CHIEF BRAND OFFICER

As the leader of the Brand Marketing team at GOVX, Aaron is responsible for crafting and executing a comprehensive brand strategy that supports GOVX’s business goals and mission. Working closely with the wider marketing and creative teams, Aaron brings the GOVX identity to life through creative storytelling, consistent brand messaging, strategic marketing channel investments, impactful partnerships and sponsorships, and alignment with key non-profit organizations, all aimed at increasing GOVX brand awareness and recall.


Before joining GOVX in 2014, Aaron held senior marketing and management roles at the Active Network and Provide Commerce. He earned his bachelor’s degree at the University of Arizona and his MBA from San Diego State University.

AMBER MILLER - CRO

Amber joined GOVX in early 2014 to head up marketing and member acquisition. She has been leading the Ecommerce efforts since 2016 focusing on the 2 most important customers at GOVX: our deserving members and the brands that provide outstanding products to members.


Prior to GOVX, Amber worked at Active Network for close to 10 years developing a business unit responsible for selling and fulfilling advertising for some of the world’s top endurance events.


Amber holds an MBA from University of San Diego and a B.A from University of California, San Diego.

JOEL PASION - CCO

As Chief Creative Officer, Joel oversees all branding, web, print and other design requirements of the Company. Prior to joining GOVX, he served as Chief Creative Officer for AnyArt, Inc., which operates the AnyArt e-commerce website. Before that, he served as Creative Director for ClosingCorp, a real estate data provider serving large banks and real estate companies. Prior to ClosingCorp, Joel was the Creative Director for Epic Cycle Interactive, a San Diego web and design agency working with major league sports teams.


Before relocating to San Diego, Joel taught web, multimedia and technology courses at the University of Saint Francis in Fort Wayne, Indiana. He earned a B.A. in Biology from St. John’s University.

ROB MORRISON - CTO

Rob serves as CTO for GOVX and oversees all software development associated with the GOVX.com Web site as well as integrations with Vendor-Partner ERP/ecommerce platforms.


Prior to joining GOVX, Rob was a Partner with Kore Technologies, where he architected and developed the company’s ecommerce web platform used by large institutions to facilitate transactions through integrations with large enterprise systems.


Prior to joining Kore Technologies, Rob was a technical lead with Intuit, which owns Quicken, QuickBooks and other financial and accounting software applications.


Prior to his work at Intuit, Rob was Manager of Advanced Product Development for Epicor where he managed a large-scale Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system designed for Microsoft BackOffice.


Rob received a B.S. in Computer Sciences from East Carolina University.

CAROL SCHNUGG - CFO

Carol serves as Chief Financial Officer for GOVX and oversees all financial, accounting and administrative matters for the Company as well as negotiating and administrating Brand-Partners’ wholesale pricing. Prior to joining GOVX, she served as Controller for Billabong’s Sector 9 company, where she oversaw its acquisition by Billabong and was recruited to oversee all financial and accounting matters along with managing its e-commerce site.


Carol previously owned and operated her own accounting and tax practice and was an accountant with Deloitte & Touche.


Carol received a B.S. in finance from San Diego State University and is a Certified Public Accountant.

ALAN COLE - CEO/PRESIDENT

Alan began his career as co-founder and President of DELTYME Corporation, a San Diego-based web services firm working with national clients including Target, Cisco Systems, Costco and Garden Fresh.


After stepping away from an operating role at DELTYME, Alan attended business school at the University of Texas with a focus on entrepreneurial management. During his time in Austin he took on due diligence responsibilities at Gefinor Ventures (an early stage venture firm) and worked in marketing and business development roles in several Austin-area startups including Convio and Metreos.


Alan ultimately moved back to San Diego to join Active Network, where he held executive responsibility for the company's $50M Media + Marketing division. After six years with Active Network, Alan moved on to serve as COO of TakeLessons, an online education marketplace connecting students with qualified teachers. In late 2016, Alan joined GOVX as CEO.

Alan holds a Bachelor of Science Degree from Santa Clara University and an MBA from the University of Texas at Austin.